Jacob Ogles
Even critics of Gov. Ron DeSantis’ new congressional map question if it can be successfully challenged before the 2022 election. But Equal Ground founder Jasmine Burney-Clark holds out hope.
Her organization is among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed in state court alleging the map (P 0109) illegally diminishes Black voting power.
“My hope is it will impact the midterms and something will happen as soon as the candidate qualifying deadline,” she said. “But I do have to be honest and realistic. We have been in this place before.”
She hopes the highly unusual process of DeSantis bypassing the Legislature to put lines he preferred in place will prompt faster action. The Governor vetoed maps approved by the Legislature, and lawmakers eventually gave up on negotiating maps with the Governor and instead approved cartography designed by DeSantis’ staff in a Special Session.
Burney-Clark is acutely aware of the potential consequences of the new map. She’s a resident of Florida’s 10th Congressional District, represented now by Democratic U.S. Rep. Val Demings, a Black woman. DeSantis’ map leaves CD 10 a Democratic seat but cuts 300,000 current residents, most of them Black, out of the district.
Functional analyses in the Legislature no longer predict Black voters will control the Democratic Primary, and the lawsuit filed last week suggests the changes violate the Fair Districts amendment to the Florida Constitution. That prohibits diminishment of minority communities’ ability to elect a candidate of their choice.
It’s just the most recent chapter in what she has seen as repeated attacks on Black representation. The district at one point was represented by U.S. Rep. Corrine Brown, whose district was torn apart and reassembled repeatedly over the last 30 years.
“It has been the target of redistricting for quite a period of time,” Burney-Clark said. “It’s not random but rather intentional. Diluting minority power has been a priority of anyone leading our redistricting process. It continues to be up for grabs every time there is a redistricting process in this state.”
The concern on a statewide basis now is that the number of Black districts in the state goes from four to two on the new map.
DeSantis hasn’t been shy about his thoughts on that. He believes racially motivated gerrymanders violate the equal protection clause in the U.S. Constitution’s 14th Amendment.
But notably, House analysts during the regular Legislative Session disagreed with a Senate belief that CD 10 was a protected minority access seat. A functional analysis of voter behavior in the district showed Black turnout becoming progressively worse each election cycle since its current configuration was introduced following a 2015 Florida Supreme Court decision.
Burney-Clark said that likely reflects the impact of voter suppression laws passed each legislative cycle, including a recent law with provisions struck down in court.
The Equal Ground leader hopes the courts intervene quickly and stop DeSantis’ redistricting agenda, one she thinks also aims to increase Republican advantage in elections in violation of Fair Districts.
A positive if the case does not get settled before the November election cycle, every election should provide further evidence. If Florida goes from having 16 Republicans in the U.S. House this year to 20 next year, that bolsters the case the map isn’t a fair draw.
“I do think it will provide us with more evidence, with what the results of this election will be,” she said. “Heading into a Presidential Election, the map allows the Governor to walk right into his true ambition, and to deliver for his party with the drawing of this map.”
